5

This idea doesn’t seem new. How does it differ from say ‘HegartyMaths’? The overarching idea of online assessments/homeworks/revision practice is not intended to be a novel one, but instead my own interpretation of it and allow my own content, as well as combining some of the best features from existing systems. The differences with HegartyMaths specifically are:  Greater support for algebraic input. This would mean A Level content would be covered (which HegartyMaths does not).  A greater variety in how students can carry out the homework (as per the ‘linear’ vs ‘differentiated’ homework types described previously).  A greater emphasis on stretching more able students (although it should be noted the initial impetus to develop the system was following a departmental meeting where we discussed the range of support for weaker students in the school).  Since my homework builder system allows dragging of input boxes over uploaded images (these images might be the slides of an uploaded PowerPoint/pdf), my system allows multiple answer inputs per question.  Tools for teachers to build their own questions.  HegartyMaths advocates the ‘flipped learning’ model, where students first watch a video of himself explaining content, before students can take an assessment to check their understanding. Students do this in their independent time, with subsequent in-school lesson time spent for subsequent consolidation and extension. Part of the monitoring interface shows teachers how much time students have spent watching these videos. While my assessments may link to relevant resources on my main site which may help with understanding, the focus of my system is solely for students to practise questions and teachers to set homeworks.  My interface will keep things simple, and while there will be many tools for teachers to track student progress, I won’t be including tools for feedback on questions they understand or teachers to ‘mark work’ online. Instead there will be simpler quantitativeonly reporting of what questions students got right and wrong (with progress over time also indicated) with teachers expected to follow this up in lesson time. This simplification is intentional.  I intend to keep the entire system free for both students and teachers. What is the intended development timeline? 1. April-May 2016: Recode and redesign the main DrFrostMaths.com website. This includes restructuring the database to pave way for the new homework system. 2. May-August 2016: Recommence work on the homework platform. If a basic limited prototype is ready, I may experiment on one of my Year 7-9 classes in the last half term before the summer. 3. Sept-Dec 2016: More formally trial the system with classes within my school (including use by other colleagues within the department), making further enhancements and additions to the system. 4. Jan 2017: Make the system available to all teachers.

6 Publizr Home


You need flash player to view this online publication